CLAIMS that exams should be taken on computers rather than paper have been rubbished in Notts.
Qualifications watchdog Ofqual's chief executive Isabel Nisbet has argued that continuing to use traditional writing materials in GCSE and A-level exams would devalue them because most children research and learn their subjects online.
Her claims have been backed up by exam boards Edexcel and AQA.
But Nottingham Academy chief executive Barry Day says the change would be "unworkable" because of the state of technology in schools.
He said: "If someone comes to me and says that there is a guarantee that the ICT will be in place that won't let young people down at the wrong moment then I might consider there is a possibility of discussing it.
"Students are under huge pressure at the time of exams. People who work with computers every day know how stressful it can be when computers don't do as they wish, so we should not be letting students go through this when they take exams.
"The last thing we want is 15 and 16-year-olds sitting down for an exam and their computer not working."
Ms Nisbet argues that if school exams don't go online soon, exam preparation "will become a separate thing to learning" for candidates used to working on computers.
Speaking in an education newspaper, she said: "Our school exams are running the risk of becoming invalid, as their medium of pen and ink increasingly differs from the way in which youngsters learn."
But Mr Day said he believed there would always be need for pen and paper in schools.
"We encounter times in everyday life when we need a pen and paper," he said. "There should always be the need for students to use handwriting, especially in English exams.
"And then there would be the issue of things like spell checkers. Would it be possible to make sure all of these are turned off for an exam?"
Concerns have also been expressed about schools not having enough computers to cope.
Ralph Surman, Nottingham-based national executive member of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, has also criticised the proposals, saying schools wouldn't have the resources to cope.
He said: "You might have a large comprehensive where there are 180 or more young people in a year group. It's just not conceivable to think of 180 plus computers being available at the same time, all in working order.
"Schools are using technology increasingly as a medium of learning, but they're still using pen and paper as well and there's a place for that."
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